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File a Complaint/Report Abuse
File a Complaint/Report Abuse
File a Complaint about a Health Care Facility
The Health Standards Section investigates complaints against licensed health care providers. Health Standards does not investigate complaints involving billing, reimbursement or care provided in a setting not licensed by the Department of Health. The Health Standards Section has no authority over physicians.
Please use this complaint form to file a complaint against any health care facility licensed by the Department of Health. Please complete the complaint form in its entirety. Please detail your complaint allegations concisely, including the name, date of birth and date of admission of the patient involved. If the complaint allegations involved an incident with a staff member or department of the facility, please be sure to include the name of the staff person involved and his/her title (e.g. R.N., LPN, aide etc.), the date that it occurred, and the name of the particular department that was involved (i.e. radiology, surgery, kitchen, dining room, etc.).
Complaint forms received by Health Standards Section are reviewed and a determination is made as to the course of action. Once the complaint report is reviewed, the complainant will receive written notice of the department’s decision. If a complaint has already been filed, in writing, directly to the facility, please allow the facility approximately 30 days to investigate the allegations and provide a response with their findings. If the facility fails to send you a written response within 30 days, you may contact our office to file a complaint. Please include a copy of your original complaint letter that was mailed to the facility, along with a completed complaint form.
Abuse/neglect in a licensed healthcare facility should be reported to the Health Standards Section.
Please return the complaint form to:
Health Standards Section P.O. Box 3767 Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Home & Community-Based Service Provider (HCBS): 800-660-0488
Home Health & Hospice: 800-327-3419
Hospital: 866-280-7737
Intermediate Care Facility for Developmentally Disabled (ICF/DD): 877-343-5179
Nursing Home: 888-810-1819
Support Coordination (Case Management): 800-660-0488
ALL OTHER PROGRAMS - CALL HEALTH STANDARDS: 225-342-0138
Food & Foodborne Illness Complaints
Foodborne illnesses are caused by consuming contaminated foods or beverages. Many different disease-causing microbes, or pathogens, can contaminate foods, so there are many types of foodborne infections. In addition, poisonous chemicals or other harmful substances can cause foodborne illnesses if they are present in food.
The Office of Pubic Health - Bureau of Sanitarian Services' Retail Food Program investigates all reported foodborne illness complaints and unsanitary conditions regarding retail food establishments. Suspected foodborne outbreaks are referred to the epidemiology section for further investigation.
WIC Program Complaints
A WIC Program complaint (Non-Civil Rights) can be related to appointments, customer service, courtesy, fair treatment, answering telephones, clinic hours, food instruments, privacy and other related WIC service processing concerns. These complaints are investigated by the Louisiana WIC State Agency.
WIC Vendor Complaint
Vendor complaints can be filed by WIC participants or others against a vendor. Vendor complaints include, but are not limited to:
Adverse treatment of a WIC participant by a Vendor's owner, manager or employee
Charging more to WIC participants than other customers
Providing outdated or spoiled food items
Refusal to accept manufacturers' coupons or other store discounts
Inadequate variety and/or quantity of WIC-authorized supplemental food items
WIC Program Appeal
A WIC Program Appeal can be submitted by an individual who feels he/she has been unfairly denied, terminated, disqualified from the WIC program or required to make a cash repayment for improperly issued benefits, program fraud or abuse. Appeal requests are forwarded to the Louisiana Division of Administrative Law with assistance from the Louisiana WIC State Agency.
You can mail your form to the address listed at the bottom of the form.
WIC Participant Complaint
Participant complaints can be filed by authorized WIC vendors or others against WIC participants. These complaints include, but are not limited to:
Adverse treatment of a vendor's owner, manager or employees
Failure to distribute foods to intended WIC participants
Purchase or attempted purchase of unauthorized foods with the WIC EBT card.
Attempt to purchase larger quantities of an authorized supplemental food item/ formula than allowed.
Fraudulent use of WIC foods or EBT cards (give away, sell, make an offer to give away or sell).
WIC Civil Rights Complaint
A WIC Civil Rights Complaint results when an individual believes and indicates they were treated differently because of their race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA. The Civil Rights complaint is investigated by the USDA with assistance from the Louisiana WIC State Agency.
You can mail your form to the address at the bottom of the form, email it to wendy.terrell@la.gov, or call 225-342-7900
You may file a civil rights complaint with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) by completing the Civil Rights Complaint Form and turning the form in to:
Mail: LDH Bureau of Legal Services P.O. Box 3836, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-3836
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